The elements of a thriving bio-economy exist in Wales – but they are disconnected. One project scenario could be a product-service platform that links biorefining and beauty.

Natural ingredients have the potential to transform everyday products in ways that enhance wellness – from skin care, to coffee bags. Citizens want this to happen: demand for all things natural, local, and small scale, is huge.

The elements of a thriving bio-economy exist in Wales – but they are disconnected. The country’s uplands, for example, are filled with grasses, colourful wild flowers. A variety of citizen researchers, meanwhile, are exploring the cosmetic, culinary, medicinal and aromatic potential of the region’s plants. There is processing expertise, too: Bangor’s Biocomposites Centre has plans to develop a network of grassland micro-refineries that would produce fibres, proteins and oils on a regional scale. Above all there is a market need – for biopolymers, packaging, essential oils, cosmetics, personal care products, nutraceuticals.

A Relational Design masters can be about connecting this patchwork of human, ecological and technical potential. What’s probably needed are a product, a field-to-face trading platform, and a sustainable business model.

By ebd|
2018-10-24T08:26:57+00:00 June 12th, 2018|Uncategorized|Comments Off on Field-to-Face: Beauty in Biorefining

One project scenario could be to re-invent Outward Bound as a co-operation platform that connects citizens, sports adventure companies, and public bodies.

Born in Wales in 1941, Outward Bound began as a school on the coast of Wales that helped train seamen for the harsh life of working at sea. The model soon expanded to include outdoor, adventure-based, programs that enabled individuals and groups to explore nature and test their physical and mental strength.

Today, more than half of European adults are overweight; obesity has tripled in many European countries since the 1980s. Governments have started to start taxing unhealthy food and beverages – but they struggle to connect health, sport, and education programmes. The focus of the private sector, too, has been on transactions – “sell more adventures” – than on longer-term, system-wide relationships.

What’s missing are networks and connections. A Relational Design masters could be a timely opportunity to reinvent Outward Bound as a cooperation platform that connects citizens, sports adventure companies, and public bodies.

By ebd|
2018-10-24T08:27:04+00:00 June 12th, 2018|Uncategorized|Comments Off on Beyond Adventure

But planting trees is just the start. A wide variety of activities and equipment – and a lot of knowledge-sharing – are involved in the management of tree populations. Trees have to be climbed, pruned, inspected, and surveyed. Seeds must be collected from notable trees, and foliage sampled for research purposes. Specialist courses and industry guidance must be delivered for tree climbers and forest managers.

In North Wales, DMM is a world leaders in the design of high-performance equipment for professional arborists – or ‘arbs’ (who describe their work as ‘veterinary care for trees’). And it’s not just about hardware. Because public money is often involved, safety regulations can means that every bit of kit needs its own certificate of conformance. Together with another local firm, Paper Trail, DMM has launched an Identity and Information Management platform, DMM iD, in which RFID technology is used to make carabina scannable and checkable anywhere in the world. It’s a far cry from a man, a rope, and an axe.

By ebd|
2018-10-24T08:27:10+00:00 June 12th, 2018|Uncategorized|Comments Off on Arborists Arising: From Tree Care to Tree Camping

One project scenario could be to develop a tool, and a collaboration platform, to monitor the health of nature in new ways.

Just one gram of forest soil can contain more microorganisms than there are people on earth, and hundreds of meters of fungal mycelia. Two questions arise: how did they count them? and, second, what’s that got to do with human health and wellness?

The convergence of citizen science, and digital craft, is driven by a simple idea: the health of all living systems, including our own, are part of the same story. Soil health, human health, microbiomes, biodiversity, the climate – all are connected.

So if growth, in a region, were to mean soils, biodiversity and watersheds getting healthier, we’d need to measure their health. If value were to arise from relationships among living systems – and not things – we’d need to put systems in place to monitor progress, and feed back results.

Digital tools can help us perceive the living world in new ways – but this is not just a design task. Biologists, designers, engineers, artists and educators need to be involved in the development of new devices. A pioneer in this field, @Naturebytes (see photos above) is growing an engaged community of engineers, scientists, designers and enthusiasts to create new ways to reconnect with wildlife and living systems.

By ebd|
2018-10-24T08:27:20+00:00 June 12th, 2018|Uncategorized|Comments Off on Coders in the Countryside

At Pontio, in North Wales, a new Masters by Research in Relational Design(#api_MRRD) helps you make a positive step-change in a live wellness project for a region. Here is one project scenario: develop a service, or platform, to meet the growing need for social farming. Scroll down for other project ideas.
(Shown above: a formerly abandoned city farm in Milan has been given new life as a multi–functional centre).

We all have to eat, and the health of the soils, watersheds and biodiversity is in all our interests – so why should farmers do it all on their own? Interest is growing in ways by which citizens can play a practical role. The social, educational and health benefits of social farming can be huge – but they need to be organised.

Care farms can create social value as convivial locations for young or elderly people in need. In Ireland, dozens of farms enable city people to participate in farm activities in a non-clinical environment. The practice reconnects farmers with their local community as part of the social support system. And in Scotland, Whitmuir Learning Farm is a thriving hub hub for myriad activities: cooking, composting, seed swaps, bird, soil and wildlife courses.

Growing, harvesting and processing food can be a shared activity, too. In a project called #OurField in England, 40 citizens co-invest in a farmer’s field for a year; together with the farmer they decide what to grow, how to grow it and what happens with the crop.

Many citizens already participate in the regeneration of forests, meadows, and rivers. Government funding for High Nature Value Farming schemes expand the range of possibilities; farmers are rewarded for biodiversity improvement, and value-creating work is needed to look after pastures, meadows and orchards, as well as large hedges and copses. High Nature Value farming can also be a source of new produce – from herbs used in biorefining, to artisan cheeses.

Marginal and neglected woodlands can also be the basis of new social enterprise. A pilot programme in the UK, which involves 50 woodland social enterprises, is exploring new ideas that that span woodfuel and timber, to woodlands being used in an educational or health and well-being setting.

By ebd|
2018-10-24T08:27:27+00:00 June 12th, 2018|Uncategorized|Comments Off on Social Farming

When the first botanical gardens were established 3,000 years ago in Mesopotamia, they combined scientific enquiry with public education.

Today’s botanical gardens, ecomuseums – and, in the UK especially, #National Parks – are looking for new ways to engage citizens – and as active participants, not just as paying visitors. These new relationships need to be designed, enabled and supported.

One #api_MRRD project scenario could be to work with Tregorth Botanic Garden (top); develop new relationships; and design a platform to enable them.

is needed in national parks the world over. An inspiring example of this approach was envisaged by @DubberlyDesign in their project Engaging members to re-imagine National Geographic

By ebd|
2018-10-24T08:27:33+00:00 June 12th, 2018|Uncategorized|Comments Off on Connected Botanic Garden

Between Autumn 2015 and Autumn 2016, in an artist-led project called A Field Of Wheat, a collective made up of 42 members of the public, the food industry, farming community, artists and researchers become active stakeholders in a field of wheat in Branston Booths, Lincolnshire, England.

Following two years of research into the culture and economics of wheat growing on a local and global scale, the Field of Wheat project meant building relationships with the region’s farmers, representatives of the farming industry, local historians, and researchers.

A direct outcome of this experiment is a project called #OurField – the live prototype of a co-op grains movement. Sixty citizens have each invested in a farmer’s field for a year. Together with the farmer, they decide what to grow, how to grow it and what happens with the crop.

#OurField is a shared farming experience: It supports farmers financially and emotionally, and connects mostly city people to what it takes to grow food.

#OurField is brilliant experiment. It has huge potential. But building on this opportunity is easier said than done. As is true for most pioneers, the founders and organisers of #OurField lack the time and space to build the co-operation platform they know is needed.

So, one project scenario for the #api_MRRD masters is easily described: an ideal candidate would spend spend a year developing the prototype of an #OurField platform – together with the movement’s founders, a farmer from the North Wales region, and relevant other partners.

By ebd|
2018-10-24T08:27:45+00:00 June 12th, 2018|Uncategorized|Comments Off on From commodities, to connection: A platform for the co-op grains movement